There were a number of reported incidents of cyberattacks on healthcare companies that are presently working 24 / 7 to make sure patients with COVID-19 get the healthcare they need to have. These attacks result in serious disruption, however, with the COVID-19 outbreak, the attacks can potentially cause even more damage and put patient safety in danger.
A lot of phishing campaigns were discovered utilizing COVID-19 as a bait. Fear in relation to the 2019 Novel coronavirus is being used to infect with malware. There were over 2,000 coronavirus and COVID-19-themed domains registered, and many of these domains are likely to be employed for malicious intentions.
Brno University Hospital, a big testing lab in the Czech Republic, suffered a cyberattack compelling its computer systems shut down. The cyberattack also impacted its Maternity hospital and Children’s hospital and patients were re-directed to other healthcare facilities.
The United States also experiences cyberattacks, such as the ransomware attack at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District of Illinois. That attack impacted its website, which provides vital information about the coronavirus pandemic to men and women. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also suffered a DDoS attack.
Several Threat Groups are Ceasing Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Providers
Although the cyberattacks still continue, it would seem that certain threat actors have decided to cease their attack on healthcare establishments presently struggling to treat patients and cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.
One example is the threat group responsible for the DoppelPaymer ransomware. The group confirmed that it would not execute attacks on hospitals and nursing homes. In case it made an error and encrypted the files of a healthcare organization, the files will be decrypted at zero cost. That offer does not hold true for pharmaceutical firms. The Maze ransomware group has likewise expressed its ceasure of activities against healthcare organizations until eventually the situation with the virus stabilizes.
Cybersecurity Companies Provide Free Ransomware Support for the Duration of Coronavirus Pandemic
A number of cybersecurity companies, such as Emsisoft and Awake Security, have said they are giving free help to healthcare companies that encounter ransomware attacks during the coronavirus outbreak.
Emsisoft assists ransomware victims to retrieve their files when attackers give decryptors that don’t work. Coveware is a company helping with incident response. It helps ransomware victims make a deal with the attacker if they decide to pay the ransom. The two companies are going to partner up to assist hospitals and other medical providers get going in case of a ransomware attack. Their no-cost services include a ransomware attack technical analysis, the creation of a decryption tool, when possible, and arbitration, deal handing, and recovery support. Emsisoft is also going to create a custom decryption tool as a substitute for the one given by the attackers to reduce the likelihood of file loss.
Awake Security said that hospitals and other medical care providers battling the coronavirus pandemic are going to be given free use of its security platform for two months, which is extendable.
The security platform keeps track of networks and finds threats coming from non-traditional computing gadgets, remote users signing in using VPNs, and the core and border networks. The offer comes with free access to its Managed Detection and response solution which gives continuing threat tracking, proactive intelligence-driven threat searching, and access to Awake Security support services.
Akamai is giving two months’ access to its Business Continuity Assistance Program for free. 1-Password discontinued its 30-day free trial restriction for business accounts, SentinelOne is giving free endpoint protection and endpoint discovery up to May 16, 2020. Cyber Risk Aware is giving free COVID-19 phishing tests for companies to assist them in preparing the employees for phishing attacks that have a coronavirus-theme. To support COVID-19-associated healthcare communications, TigerConnect offered the use of its secure healthcare communications platform at no cost in the United States.